Lesbians and karaoke: Laugh-riot, cringefest, or good clean fun?

Earlier this week Lori and I unexpectedly found ourselves at an L.A. lesbian karaoke bar with Karman and Bridget McManus, watching a drunk lesbian in a bad sweater butchering John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Hurts So Good.” It hurt, all right, but not in a good way.

But Bridget put the audience in stitches with an over-the-top rendition of Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody” which involved running around in circles, ranting about how she’s “just gotta getta out of here,” and fake-sobbing “Nothing really matters” while slumped over a stool. I laughed until my face hurt.

Then someone else took the stage, and one bad version of a Pat Benatar song and a pretty good Phantom of the Opera duet later, and I’m still undecided: Lesbians and karaoke — like peanut butter and chocolate, or like peanut butter and an intoxicated lesbian in cargo pants who lost a bet and now we all have to suffer for it?

I’ve only done karaoke once myself, and then only because the bar was empty, it was my friend’s birthday, and the music was so loud it was more like lip-synching (I can only carry a tune well when I’m singing in a group, not solo). I don’t even remember what song it was, except I think it was something country that I knew from childhood …

Which brings me to my next question: for those of you who karaoke (yes, I’ve decided it’s a verb): What do you sing? And do you sing it seriously, or over the top? And for those of you who don’t karaoke, what’s the one song that might get you to do it, if the bar was empty and no one else would know? Or if you were in your living room with friends?

I’ll admit I’m tempted by Carrie Underwood‘s “Before He Cheats” — before you scoff, have you seen the music video? It rocks!

Seriously, how can you hear that song and not want to sing along? But don’t tell anyone I said that, or I’ll dig my key into the side of your pretty little souped-up four-wheel drive…